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Movies like Center Stage

Key Features:
Biopic, Historical drama, Chinese cinema, 1930s, Rise and fall, Actress, Female protagonist, Tragedy, Fame, Scandal, Social commentary, Melodrama, Director-driven
Tone:
serious, dramatic, poetic
Target Audience:
Film buffs, History enthusiasts, Drama lovers, Biopic fans
Emotional Arc:
Hope → Despair

Center Stage

1991-11-29
Center Stage Poster - Find Similar Movies

Based on the tragic true story of China's first prima donna of the silver screen, Ruan Lingyu, chronicling her rise to fame as a movie actress in Shanghai during the 1930s.

Genres
Drama, Romance
Cast
Maggie Cheung, Ronald Chin Han, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Lawrence Ng Kai-Wah, Carina Lau, Cecilia Yip Tung, Waise Lee Chi-Hung, Chen Yan-yan, Kelvin Wong Siu, Maryanna Yip
Crew
Stanley Kwan Kam-Pang, Chiu Kang-Chien, Peggy Chiao
Rating
7.2(80 votes)
Center StageCenter Stage
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Center Stage
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Once Upon a Time in China II

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The Last Emperor
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A corrupt magistrate subjects a innocent young bride to inconceivable physical punishments after convicting her of killing her husband.



Bodyguards and Assassins

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Gone with the Bullets

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Once Upon a Time in China IV

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Bruce Lee, My Brother

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The relationship between a middle-aged man and the elderly woman who has been the family's helper for sixty years.



Our Times
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Office worker Truly Lin goes on a journey through her memories. 20 years ago, she had a crush on the most popular guy in school. Taiyu, a ruffian and a bully, is in love with the campus belle. Truly teams up with Taiyu to tear the golden couple apart and help each other to get the ones they love.



Hero
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During China's Warring States period, a district prefect arrives at the palace of Qin Shi Huang, claiming to have killed the three assassins who had made an attempt on the king's life three years ago.



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Gypsy's mother Rose dreams of a life in show business for her daughters, but Louise becomes a huge burlesque star. Stage musical loosely based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee.



Factory Girl
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Under the Hawthorn Tree

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Lost in Beijing
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A look at modern-day life in China's capital centered on a ménage-a-quatre involving a young woman, her boss, her husband and her boss's wife.



The Painted Veil
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A British medical doctor fights a cholera outbreak in a small Chinese village, while also being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.



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Once a Thief
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Three orphans grow up to become art thieves under the tutelage of a crime boss. Romance complicates matters when the trio are double-crossed.



Coco Chanel
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The Golden Lotus

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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

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An Empress and the Warriors

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Once Upon a Time in China V

Epic adventure set during a tumultuous time in China, when left without a leader, the cavalry is attacked by the powerful allies and pirate bands. A martial arts master, Wong Fei-Hong and Aunt Yee return to do battle against these evil forces.



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A fictionalized account of the lives of 1980s Tamil Nadu political icons M. G. Ramachandran and M. Karunanidhi, continuing the tryst between Tamil cinema and Dravidian politics.



Lust, Caution
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Rodin
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Duel to the Death
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The Grandmaster
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Ip Man's peaceful life in Foshan changes after Gong Yutian seeks an heir for his family in Southern China. Ip Man then meets Gong Er who challenges him for the sake of regaining her family's honor. After the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ip Man moves to Hong Kong and struggles to provide for his family. In the mean time, Gong Er chooses the path of vengeance after her father was killed by Ma San.



The Eight Hundred

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Back to 1942
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In 1942, Henan Province was devastated by one of the most tragic famines in modern Chinese history, resulting in the deaths of at least three million men, women and children. Although the primary cause of the famine was a severe drought, it was exacerbated by locusts, windstorms, earthquakes, epidemic disease and the corruption of the ruling Kuomintang government.



Fulltime Killer
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Professional assassin O has resided in an isolated world of killing and loneliness. But his life begins to change once he meets the innocent Chin; hired to clean O's apartment. However, soon the flamboyent and reckless Tok enters Chin's life with a mission to unveil O's identity and usurp his place as the number one sharp-shooting assassin in the game.



Ip Man: Kung Fu Master

Ip Man’s promising career as a Policeman is ruined after he is framed for murder and targeted by a mob boss’s daughter.



Love Story
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Harvard Law student Oliver Barrett IV and music student Jennifer Cavilleri share a chemistry they cannot deny - and a love they cannot ignore. Despite their opposite backgrounds, the young couple put their hearts on the line for each other. When they marry, Oliver's wealthy father threatens to disown him. Jenny tries to reconcile the Barrett men, but to no avail.



The Myth
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6.4

When a fellow scientist asks for Jack's help in locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor, the past collides violently with the present as Jack discovers his amazing visions are based in fact.



King of Comedy
7.4

Wan Tin-Sau is an actor who cannot seem to catch a break, since his only professional jobs are limited to being a movie extra. As well as being an actor, he is also the head of his village's community center.



Devdas
Devdas(2002)
7.5

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The Banquet
6.1

Crown Prince Wu Luan is in love with Little Wan but left heartbroken when she marries his father, the emperor. The emperor's brother, Li, kills him and Wu Luan tries to avenge his father's death.



Funny Girl
7.2

The life of famed 1930s comedienne Fanny Brice, from her early days in the Jewish slums of New York, to the height of her career with the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as her marriage to the rakish gambler Nick Arnstein.



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Lady Sings the Blues
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Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday, beginning with her traumatic youth. The story depicts her early attempts at a singing career and her eventual rise to stardom, as well as her difficult relationship with Louis McKay, her boyfriend and manager. Casting a shadow over even Holiday's brightest moments is the vocalist's severe drug addiction, which threatens to end both her career and her life.



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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.



An Actor's Revenge
6.6

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Zu Warriors
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King Sky, the sole disciple of the Kun Lun Sect, falls in love with his master Dawn. Dawn is killed when Insomnia destroys the Kin Lun Mountain. King Sky waits for two hundred years and meets Enigma, who is the reincarnation of Dawn, and in love with her again. However, Insomnia's Blood Clouds is ready to destroy Zu...



Irma Vep
Irma Vep(1996)
6.666

Hong Kong action diva Maggie Cheung comes to France when a past-his-prime director casts her in a remake of the silent classic Les Vampires. Clad in a rubber catsuit and unable to speak a word of French, Cheung finds herself adrift in the insanity of the film industry…



La Vie en Rose
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From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.



Coming Home
7.253

Lu and Feng are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner during the Cultural Revolution. He finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife no longer remembers him.



Shanghai
Shanghai(2010)
6.1

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.



Crying Out Love in the Center of the World

While searching for his fiancee Ritsuko, Sakutarou rediscovers through flashbacks the void deep within him caused by the events from his high school days.



Center Stage: Turn It Up

All self-taught dancer Kate Parker has ever wanted to do was perform with the American Academy of Ballet. But when she doesnt make it after auditioning, she learns that it takes more than precision and perfection to succeed in the dance world.

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